The Movement-Active-Physical-Play (M.A.P.P) programme and teaching resource was developed following over twenty years’ experience working alongside children, their families, EC teachers, ECE centres unpacking the role that movement and nature play in child development whilst raising three sons with husband Colin. My previous work as co-Director of Moving Smart New Zealand, Director of TimberNook New Zealand and early years project lead and Trustee for the Hawkes Bay Institute of Sport & Health connects me to my special interest in linking health and education for the best outcomes for children. In 2016 I co-authored movement curriculum Move, Play & Learn with Smart Steps that was published in the USA and in 2019 Founder, Director, and Curriculum Lead of the DEN, a unique and innovative ECE centre for children two to six years located on twoacres of outdoor play space. 2024 begins my final year of Doctoral study at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) investigating the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a scalable and sustainable teacher-led physical activity programme in ECE centres in New Zealand. M.A.P.P has been designed to support EC teachers and ECE centres in noticing, recognising, and responding to physical activity as learning and increasing child levels of physical activity through active play opportunities. In recent years considerable attention has been given to increasing physical activity through active play during the first five years of life as it is essential to the health and future wellbeing of children. It is so important it is recognised under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992). Furthermore, young children should in a 24-hour period spend at least 180 minutes in physical activity, at least 60 of those minutes in moderate-to- vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary screen time no more than 60 minutes and good quality sleep for 10 – 13 hours (Ministry of Health, 2017). Significantly, Butler et al. (2021) found that in a parent-reported item about how four-year-old children in New Zealand choose to spend their free time if given a choice, a quarter (n=1568, 26%) chose to do active things whereas a third (n = 1859, 30%) regularly chose inactive things. The remainder (n=2725, 44%) were just as likely to choose an active as inactive thing to do, confirming that young children spend a small proportion of time being active and have high levels of inactivity. Further, there is general agreement that being healthy in the early years generally sets children up for wellbeing across their life course (World Health Organization, 2019). Education begins for most young children well before they are five, with enrolment in early childhood education (ECE) continuing to rise and 87% of New Zealand young children accessing and participating in ECE, well above the OECD average of 71% (OECD, 2015). According to Tucker et al. (2022) for young children attending ECE centres, teachers serve as their primary daytime role models and although there is legislation, regulation, strategy, and curriculum supporting physical activity in ECE centres, worryingly EC teachers have communicated that they lack the education, body of knowledge and self- efficacy to confidently deliver (plan, implement and participate) in physical activity for young children (Aadland et al., 2020). In the context of physical inactivity and its growing prevalence in young children, experts have confirmed ECE as a setting of impact for early intervention (Coe, 2020). Therefore, M.A.P.P was developed as a sustainable and scalable online teacher-led physical activity programme and teaching resource in early childhood centres. I am grateful to the two ECE centres and EC Introducing Movement- Active-Physical-Play (M.A.P.P) Programme and Teaching Resource By Wendy Pirie - PhD Candidate (AUT) July 2024 { 18 }
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